The Rest of the First Half of the Season

Gordon Whittenmyer says this: So far this season, the Cubs’ starting rotation has been the backbone of the team’s ability to hover just above the .500 mark—the starters going 11-7, with a passable 4.35 ERA and 21 starts of at least 6 innings out of 27 games. All of which makes this five-game mini road trip potentially telling for the rest of the first half of the season. They’re only potentially huge for the rest of the first half of the season. What the hell does that mean? The rest of the first half of the season. Why not the rest of May? Why not the rest of the week? Why not the rest of the day? It’s not like he wrote this yesterday morning. He wrote this last night after the Cubs had already beaten the Astros. So he’s talking about the next 4 games being key the rest of the first half of the season. That’s just stupid. The idea that these 4 games could be telling is bad enough, but the fact that he thinks it will only be telling until mid July is what makes it even dumber. With Carlos Zambrano on the DL because of a hamstring injury, Randy Wells (zero major league starts, 5 1/3 major-league innings) starts in his place Friday against the potent lineup of the Milwaukee Brewers. I’m sure Wells appreciates the added pressure Gordo is putting on him to win games in this huge mini-road trip. Also starting in that series are Ryan Dempster, who came within a Reed Johnson slam-robbing catch of getting clobbered there a month ago, and lefty Sean Marshall, who has not fared well against the Brewers in his young career. Therefore Dempster will get clobbered and Marshall will continue to far poorly. Done deal. Sealed. Mark the words and the date. Even Ted Lilly, who starts Thursday in Houston, didn’t look very good his first trip into Minute Maid Park, although he has pitched very well outside of that. A pitcher can never perform better against a team in his next start. Does. Not. Happen. A solid turn through this time around could be important for the still developing bullpen and could also take some pressure off a lineup that looks like it could be on the verge of full health if not its first sustained hitting spree. And with a potentially soft homestand looming, it could be a key to a big May. And we all know May is key for the rest of the first half of the season. On the other hand, a rough turn, particularly this weekend in Milwaukee could mean more stress for a twitchy bullpen and expose the lack of starting depth suggested when the Cubs dumped Jason Marquis without adding an experienced starter over the winter. Poor starts this weekend means lack of depth. Couldn’t be anything else. If Wells in particular struggles, it could force the Cubs to look for an alternative next time that spot comes up in the rotation. Mitch Atkins? Jeff Samardzija? Skip the spot twice in the next three rotations—depending how long Zambrano is out. No team has ever won its division when the guy they bring up to replace its ace has a bad start forcing the club to bring someone else up. When you get down to it, Friday’s game will tell us whether or not the Cubs will be contenders for the rest of the first half of the season. The domino effect could go any number of directions, involving both the rotation and bullpen. I love these kinds of comments, or these kinds of articles. Imagine everything possible going wrong and then write about it as if you’re actually writing something intelligent. Piniella already tested the limits of his starting pitchers the past two games—leaving Marshall in to pitch the eighth inning of a 3-2 game Tuesday before he put the first two batters on, and leaving Harden in to pitch the eighth Wednesday with a 6-1 lead that quickly became 6-3 with a single and homer. Therefore every 8th inning those 2 pitch they will allow all 5 hitters they face to reach base and the oppositions will score an average of 3 runs in that 8th inning. Done deal. Sealed. Mark words and date. ``I think you learn as you go, too,’’ Piniella said Wednesday night. ``I think we get seven innings, we’re going to be pleased with it.’‘ It always cracks me up for some reason when Lou Piniella shows he’s far more intelligent than the beat writers.